Max Verstappen took issue with a question about his penalty points at the Canadian Grand Prix, describing the discourse as ‘childish’ and stating that he was ‘p***ed off’ by the comments. The Dutchman is one point away from a ban and won’t drop any from his FIA super license until July.
Verstappen’s penalty point status was called into question again after qualifying on Saturday. The Dutchman will start the race from second on the grid with rival George Russell on pole position. This generated extra intrigue given the context behind their rivalry.
The duo crashed after a late safety car restart at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after Verstappen lunged into the corner just moments after letting Russell marginally ahead for a split second. The Brit escaped without any major damage, but the reigning world champion picked up a 10-second time penalty and three penalty points, taking him to the brink of a ban.
When asked about the predicament after qualifying, Verstappen was less than impressed. He cut interviewer Tom Clarkson off mid-sentence before expressing his distaste with the line of questioning.
“I don’t need to hear it again,” he complained. “It’s really p***ing me off, you speaking about it, on Thursday… It’s such a waste of time. It’s very childish. It’s very annoying, this world that we live in.”
On media day on Thursday, Verstappen laid out his stall regarding a change of approach. “I cannot just back out of everything,” he said. “I’m just going to race like I always do. I trust myself. I don’t worry about it. I just come here to race, and I will always race hard.”
Verstappen may be frustrated with the penalty point discourse, but it is unlikely to go away until the chequered flag drops in Austria next time out. In the meantime, rival Russell intends to put the Red Bull racer in an uncomfortable position as he hunts down third place in the Drivers’ Championship standings.
“We have to be smart and use it to our advantage,” Russell said. “I’m going to continue racing exactly the same because at the end of the day, that’s what I did last week and I benefited from it.
“And as we said, if you do keep driving like that, you’ll accumulate your points and you’ll get punished. Ultimately, he got punished for it. So, from my side, kind of long may it continue and for a neutral, it spices things up a little bit.”